Leo and his team made it several doorways down before the first blur appeared. As ten vampires appeared to battle his team of six, Leo pushed all thoughts aside to focus on his instinct and each threat. He'd dealt with worse odds when his father had tried to teach him a lesson decades ago, not to mention the even harsher battles he'd fought in the army.
It was time to see if Leo could win yet again, when the stakes were even higher. Not only to help his nephew and sister, but also for a future with his bride.
With both Yesenia and Ambrose fixed in his mind, he dodged the first blow and went after the greatest threat first.
* * *
Yesenia pacedthe small drawing room where she'd been told to wait, tapping her fingers against her thigh, wishing she could do something, anything really,to help Leo. She wasn't stupid enough to think she could just join Leo's special ops-like team and become an instant gunslinger or possess some sort of cage fighter champion-level butt-kicking skills if she wished hard enough.
Maybe if she had her magic, she could help her vampire at his side. The immediate future wasn't her timeline, and if she timed it right, she could send something or someone a few minutes into the future to help Leo.
The problem was, she could easily end up making things worse. One misplaced item, or fucking up the timing, and it could end up hurting Leo's chances of success.
If only she had a seer to help guide her more precisely through the future. That was something else she'd learned during her studies—a seer sometimes worked with a time-wielder to avoid disaster or catastrophe.
She continued pacing, running through everything she'd learned about magic so far when Charlotte Sakamoto, Leo's bookkeeper, entered the room, with a slightly shorter female vampire in tow.
After shutting and locking the door behind her, Charlotte and the unknown female stopped right in front of her, and Yesenia stopped pacing. "What is it? Did you receive word about Leo? Or Ambrose?"
Charlotte shook her head. "No, but Diana here is a dear friend of mine, one who is part vampire and part fae witch."
Yesenia frowned. "Um, that's nice. Don't take offense, but I'm not exactly in the mood to make new friends right now."
Charlotte rolled her eyes. "I'm not stupid, Yesenia, and wouldn't waste your time to introduce you to someone for no reason at a time like this." She gestured toward Diana. "Didn't you hear me? Diana ishalffae witch, meaning she has magic of her own."
Yesenia's eyes moved to the shorter female, one with blonde hair and blue eyes. She looked away as soon as Yesenia met her gaze, though, and her cheeks burned.
Charlotte took the female's hand and squeezed. "Diana doesn't tell many people about her powers, for fear of being kidnapped and exploited. Her type of magic, at any level, is extremely valuable." Charlotte's free hand moved to caress the blonde female's cheek, and she added softly, "But she'll help us because I asked her to."
As the blonde stared lovingly at Charlotte and placed her hand over Charlotte's on her cheek, Yesenia knew they were either fated ones or lovers. She'd definitely ask them more about that later. But for now, she focused on the more important issue at hand. "Then what's her power?"
Charlotte looked back at Yesenia. "Diana's a low-level seer."
Low-level seers had a broad range of what they could or couldn't see when it came to the future or near future. Doing her best to quash hope just yet, Yesenia cleared her throat and said, "Then let me be blunt, as who the hell knows what could be happening to Leo and Ambrose right now. What can Diana do to help? And why didn't you tell Leo this earlier?"
Diana spoke for the first time, holding onto Charlotte's hand as if her life depended on it. "Dark Lord Yates's father took pleasure in capturing females who loved other females and having some of his men rape them until they started breeding. I-I know the current Dark Lord is different, but it's a hard habit to break, one of always looking over your shoulder and living in secret."
Charlotte put an arm around Diana and caressed her lover's arm. "But I knew Diana would feel more comfortable talking with you since you're female and unrelated to the previous ruling bastard. As for what she can do, Diana should be able to see Leo's immediate future and help guide you to it, as if giving directions to make the journey easier to make. And I thought maybe you could help him by sending something, or someone, to help if he's in trouble."
The small ball of hope in her chest that had formed at being given directions to help her then instantly disintegrated. "I'm still a novice and would most likely kill someone if I tried to do that."
Charlotte tilted her head. "If so, why is there an augmenter in the hallway, waiting for you to call on her?"
Yesenia frowned, knowing she should be nicer and more patient, but the stress and tension of the day made her bark, "What the hell are you talking about?"
Charlotte waved toward the door. "That fae witch female, Rebecca, is waiting for you out there. Dark Lord Khan sent her and said you'd need her assistance."
She opened her mouth to say it was a waste of time, that Yesenia didn't have enough training to use Rebecca's assistance. But then a jumble of thoughts rushed through her head.
Khan was in charge ofallfae witches in England and Wales. He mostly likely had access to high-level seers who possessed near-perfect foretelling skills.
Which meant he might already know about how she was supposed to—no, would—do this. And while offering her a full-blooded fae witch seer might be seen as favoring one ally over the other—vampires over shifters, for example—allowing her access to her teacher and using one of the half-vampire seers under Leo's purview wouldn't be viewed the same way.
The question was whether Yesenia believed she could help at all, or if she'd just make matters worse. After all, she hadn't even been able to send a button through time whole.
Your doubts are what truly hold you back, Rebecca had said many times over.
It was hard to brush off more than a decade of people saying she was useless. But she wasn't about to let her vampire lord, a male she cared about and couldn't imagine never teasing, kissing, or merely sitting with again, risk everything while she risked nothing.